PAPER: Building a more just science system

Collective action is needed to build a more just science system

June 2023

Rayne A, Arahanga-Doyle H, Cox B, Cox MP, Febria CM, Galla SJ, Hendy SC, Locke K, Matheson A, Pawlik A, Roa T, Sharp EL, Walker LA, Watene K, Wehi PM, Steeves TE. 2023. Collective action is needed to build a more just science system. Nat Hum Behav 7(7): 1034-1037.

ABSTRACT

The current science system is unjust — from the systems that determine its membership to its outputs and outcomes. We advocate for contextually responsive, collective action to build a more just science system that demonstrates a relational duty of care to all its participants. To achieve this, we urge the science community to harness the powerful processes of complexity with deliberate intent.

Science has been described as promoting exclusion and oppression by rewarding those who practice entrenched norms, including individualism, hypercompetition and productivism, and penalizing those who challenge them. Today, these norms permeate the design of scientific institutions and funding — reified in overt hierarchies and short-term funding cycles that disincentivize participatory and collaborative approaches.

KEYWORDS

Careers; Complex networks; Institutions; Interdisciplinary studies; Science, technology and society